Rebirth Of The Bastard Spirit Summoner

The rain had been pouring down relentlessly, bathing Stark in its cold showers, the night frequented by strangely human-like screams and shrills.

It had been thirty minutes, thirty minutes of systematically hunting down every single goat monster he had come across.

Stark was shirtless, partly covered in blood and had a few scuffs from mistakes he had made along the way.

But he had something to show for it…

Currently, Stark had a small army of five armed goats surrounding him.

"Spirit herder, how ironic."

Right now he felt like an infernal shepherd, herding an army of hell goats.

In front of him was the corpse of yet another goat, but since his spirit capacity was full, Stark decided it was finally time to implement its other uses…

He reached towards the Spirit Shard and it floated into his hands. This time, he did not whisper, he did not draw the spirit to himself.

Instead, he crushed it in his palms.

There was a sound like shattering glass, followed by a burst of energy.

It felt cool and serene, like a gentle river was surging through his veins.

It was euphoric.

Stark subconsciously tapped his right arm with his fingers as the feeling lingered, and then it finally ceased.

When he opened his eyes, everything felt different. He felt a bit more powerful, he could hear just slightly more clearly, and his soul felt a little more potent.

They were little insignificant improvements. But they were enough, no, they were more than enough.

He was in a forest filled with monsters, after all.

How much could he absorb? How much stronger could he grow?

Stark wanted to know, he wanted to know badly.

He felt a dangerous smile tugging on his face as he envisioned a slaughter.

"Let's move…"

With two goats ahead of him, two at his sides, and one at his back, Stark made his way into the forest.

When he had come here, he was the prey, but now? He was the predator.

• • •

Stark hid behind the wet bushes, peeking at a small group of monsters—goats, of course…

He had avoided every other spirit or beast he came across.

It was the smart thing to do, he knew the goats, their movements, and their behavioral patterns.

They were the perfect prey.

The three beasts stood with their axes raised, as they stared at the environment, caution in their every step.

One of them was considerably larger than the others, about two times their height and wielding a far larger stone axe.

'That's a big one…' Stark thought as he looked at it.

It looked capable of bench pressing his weight while wearing a weighted jacket.

By now, the entire forest must have heard those eerie screams. The beasts in front of him knew better than others what it meant.

So they were on their guard.

Stark glanced at Shifu, the first spirit he had obtained. His gaze was hard as he watched his master.

Stark counted with his fingers.

~ One

~ Two

~ GO!

They both bolted out of the forest, axes raised as they raced at the beasts.

The beasts spun, their eyes narrowing as they met the two fighters.

First, the two in front of him charged, swinging their axes in violent arcs.

Stark flipped over the little guy, the axe cutting past where his legs used to be.

Still in the air, he gave the beast a resounding knock on the head, smacking some manners into him before he landed.

The beast was about to lunge at his back when one of his spirits rose up to meet it. Axe met axe.

It was now Stark and the gigantic beast.

The beast looked him over. It was still shorter than him, but not to the point that it would be a problem.

It heaved its axe and was about to lunge when its ear twitched.

VWOOSH!

It spun, swinging its axe in a circular manner. Behind him, two of Stark's spirits that had been going in for an ambush were utterly decimated.

Ripped apart from the torso up.

"Tch."

Stark felt the spirits return to his soul.

'Does that mean?'

He attempted to do what he had always done, to pull the spirits out of his soul. But when he tried, nothing happened.

They were still somewhere in his soul, but Stark could only guess that they needed more time to heal.

"Okay then, you and me, big guy."

Clang!

The moment both axes connected, Stark realized that just maybe he had made a mistake.

The force of the beast's blow was so powerful that Stark felt the tremors surge through his arms and his bones rattle like hollow sticks.

He darted to the side as the axe came barreling down and closed the distance between himself and the beast,

Before crashing his fist into its side.

"…"

Stark flexed his fist in pain.

"Dude, I need your workout routine."

His abs were harder than concrete blocks—okay, that would be going a bit too far, but you get the point.

Swish!

The weapon cleaved past Stark, but he easily evaded it. He had been fighting them for so long, and although it was bigger, it fought very much the same.

And yet…

A heavy blow rocked him to the side, pain searing through him, as the beast slammed the butt of its axe into his shoulder.

It was meant to be his head, but he had escaped—barely.

The man-goat gave him no room to breathe—

Stark leaned back, watching as the axe nearly took off his head, and then he spun his axe in the air, just before driving it into the beast's elbow.

The axe instantly fell from its hand as its tendon was split apart.

Shrieking in anger, the beast lunged—slamming its shoulder into his chest, knocking the air out of him and sending them both tumbling through the muddy floor.

They only stopped when they both slammed into a nearby tree.

Then the goat grabbed his throat and squeezed.

Stark could not breathe, he felt panic flood his body as his lungs demanded oxygen.

And yet, he smiled, and slowly lifted his hand at the beast's face.

He lifted five fingers...

The goat monster looked oddly confused.

But behind it, a faint glow emerged…

"Five spirits, bitch."

So far, he had only summoned four.

Whoosh!

The spirit plunged its axe right into the beast's back and blood flowed out like a stream, bathing Stark who was still beneath it.

Then the body fell limp, pressing Stark to the cold dirt.

He huffed, sucking in air before pushing the beast off him.

Then rose to his feet just as a cold feeling suddenly overtook him.

His two spirits that had been fighting… they had returned to his soul.

It was not possible for the battle to have concluded that fast, not when they were fighting their own kind!

Unless…

Stark turned to run, but froze.

It was far too late.

He slowly turned back to face the monster that was now just a few feet away from him.

Crunch Crunch!

Its powerful mandibles crushed the bodies of the two goat beasts, bone and all, as though they were crackers.

And then it locked its gaze on him.

"Fuck me."